Crosthwait v. Pitts
| Decision Date | 04 February 1904 |
| Citation | 36 So. 83,139 Ala. 421 |
| Parties | CROSTHWAIT v. PITTS ET AL. |
| Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
Appeal from City Court of Birmingham; Chas. A. Senn, Judge.
Action by Joseph D. Crosthwait against A. J. Pitts and others on the official bond of John A. Baker, justice of the peace. From a judgment for defendants, plaintiff appeals. Reversed.
Baker was first made a party defendant to the cause, but he died while the suit was pending, and the complaint was then amended by striking him out as a party defendant because of the said death. It is averred in the complaint as amended that one Treherne owed a debt to one Bella A. McDonald, and gave a mortgage to secure the same upon his homestead, and that the said Baker certified on the said mortgage that the wife of Treherne came before him and made the acknowledgment required by law for the conveyance of the homestead, when in fact the wife of Treherne was not before the justice at all and did not make the acknowledgment as certified to; that the mortgage was on the homestead of Treherne and wife, and because of the failure of the wife to acknowledge it, the mortgage was held void. It is further averred that the plaintiff, believing that the mortgage was a valid one purchased the note and mortgage, and attempted to enforce it but was unable to do so. It is also averred that the plaintiff knew nothing about the false certificate; that it was in due form, and the mortgage was otherwise regularly and legally executed, and the security was sufficient to have saved the said debt if the mortgage had been valid. To the complaint as amended the defendants demurred upon the following grounds:
James A. Mitchell, for a...
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Broom v. Douglass
...of authority, and there was nothing to challenge his judicial action. Indeed, it was prima facie malicious or corrupt. In Crosthwait v. Pitts, 139 Ala. 421, 36 So. 83, same conclusion, on the same facts, is reaffirmed. In the recent case of Earp v. Stephens, 1 Ala. App. 447, 55 So. 270, a j......
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Bull v. Albright
...and subjects the officer to suit for damages. McLendon v. American Freehold Land & Mortgage Co., 119 Ala. 518, 24 So. 721; Crosthwait v. Pitts, 139 Ala. 421, 36 So. 83. As we have stated, it is necessary to consider separately the demurrer of the defendant Albright, both as an individual an......